Virgil van Dijk would have been expecting to be lining up at Anfield tomorrow for Liverpool’s clash with Sevilla in the Champions League group stage.

Instead, the giant Netherlands defender was making his first appearance of the season for Southampton’s under-23s against Aston Villa - and it didn’t go at all well.

The Saints were cut apart by a talented Villa side and were 2-0 down at half-time courtesy of two brilliant strikes from Jordan Cox.

And things didn’t get much better after the break as Corey Blackett-Taylor and Callum O’Hare both sailed through the Saints defence to make it 4-0 before the hourmark.

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Van Dijk, who is now looking to put his summer transfer woes behind him, began the game strongly and prevented Villa from taking an early lead through O’Hare. The tricky Villa youngster looked to burst past van Dijk in the box but the Dutchman picked him off and confidently played the ball to a team-mate.

However, that was as good as it got and van Dijk’s comeback quickly turned sour. The 26-year-old was nowhere to be seen as Villa’s Cox raced through the centre of the field and curled in from the edge of the area. Van Dijk had been dispatched of in the build-up, leaving central defensive partner Jan Badnarek horribly exposed.

Van Dijk was also found wanting as Villa increased their lead after 24 minutes. Ritchie De Laet’s neat ball in between the 6ft 4in defender and left-back Will Wood found Cox, who again showed his ruthless streak with a stunning finish past goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.

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Van Dijk clearly wasn’t up to speed and spent the majority of the first half as Southampton’s deepest man, offering out instructions to his younger team-mates.

But within minutes of the second half kicking off, van Dijk was again running back towards his own goal as Blackett-Taylor fired home.

The centre-back clearly wasn’t happy and vented his frustrations towards the referee at times.

O’Hare’s goal only added to those frustrations. The diminutive attacker, who has played for the Villa first team on occasions this season, stormed through the middle of the Saints’ backline before slamming the ball home from range.

The remaining 60 minutes brought little concern for van Dijk, who continued to look rusty with wayward headers, but he will be grateful to have emerged with 90 minutes under his belt.